Wednesday (11th): We had a very early morning leaving Dijon at 6:30 am and I was sure we were stopping for breakfast somewhere, so since I was running late anyways I chose not to eat any breakfast. Big mistake. Unfortunately we didn’t stop and our first stop was Champagne tasting in Champagne, France at Mercier à Epernay. I quickly shoved some fruit bars and almonds down my throat before the tasting so I wouldn’t be tipsy at 11:00 in the morning. We had an incredible tour of the champagne factory (champagnery??) and then had a tasting at the end- one glass. Why was I so worried? We were on our way to Rouen in Normandy, but stopped in a town called Reims to get a tour of the town and the cathedral there, (probably my favorite cathedral I’ve ever seen from the outside- you need to look it up!), and then headed on to Rouen. We were a little late getting there but the best part of my day happened at dinner. When I was in 5th grade at my public elementary school we had pen pals in France that we got the chance to visit and stay with for a few days after graduation that summer. I was paired up with the sweetest girl, and her family was absolutely amazing. We stayed in touch and she came to see me and stay with my family a few years later in Atlanta. Well, it turns out she is now studying business in Rouen, so I told her I was coming and she so kindly gave up her evening of work and friends to come see me!! She ate with our Wake group and I was on cloud 9. I loved every minute of it. She is still one of the sweetest and most kind people, and I was so happy to share her with my “American friends”. I’m so thankful for her friendship and the technology to be able to stay in touch with her and I’m sure that wasn’t goodbye.
Thursday (12th): We woke up and had a tour of Rouen. Unfortunately the weather was super nasty, but it’s as much of a “college town” as I’ve seen so far in France, so the energy level was fun and we did get to see where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Kind of sad, not gonna lie. I was really craving soup for lunch since it was cold and rainy, but we found a legit sports bar, playing American country music and all, so we were happy to have some comfort food on such a gross day. We left Rouen and made a stop in Honfleur, the first place besides the airport in Paris I had ever been to in France. The place where I learned when I was 10 years old what “jet lag” is, (thanks daddy for explaining that one to me!). It was kind of like a dream going back to it, because I remember it so clearly from when I was 10. It was still so beautiful and it made me wish my daddy was there with me again to experience it all over again. As we were walking around the pier, we overheard 2 older couples speaking English so we decided to ask them if they wouldn’t mind taking a picture of us. Well they were wasted, and it was one of the most entertaining conversations I have had this whole trip. I asked them where they were from and they told me Charlotte, NC. Seeing that I have family from there I just started talking to them and they were as sweet as they could be, telling us one of their sons studied abroad, etc. Then one of the women looked at us and said: “I just knew y’all were from the south. Y’all are so beautiful and only southern girls could be that pretty. Y’all go tell your mamma’s we said so. They’ll appreciate it” (so momma, I’m telling you now :) ). We got such a kick out of it though because I was the only girl from the south and they had never asked where we were from, but they knew from my accent that I was southern and I also happened to be the only one who spoke, therefore they assumed everyone was from wherever they thought I was from. Not many things are more enjoyable than sweet old Southern women, even when they have had too much to drink. We left Honfleur after our free afternoon there and got settled at our hotel in Bayeaux, the hotel with the broken wifi…
Friday (13th): Big day. One of the days I have been looking forward to the most since I knew I was coming on this trip. We were doing all of the World War 2 stuff and I was pumped. Our first stop was the Caen memorial, probably the best WWII museum I have ever seen, and I’ve seen my fair share of them. It is by far my favorite thing to study in history ever, and as I was finishing up Unbroken about Louis Zamperini in the Pacific (a must read for sure), I was excited to see all of the information again in person. We saw a powerful D-Day movie with no words, and people were sobbing in the theater. It was breathtaking. We went from the Caen memorial to a 360 degree movie theater also about D-Day. It was powerful too. I will always have so much respect for the men who fought in WWII, but especially the men who walked into an almost death mission and won on June 6th, 1944. We went to another museum full of tons of mannequins and I learned about the Mulberry Bridge, built after the Allies took control of the beaches to more efficiently get supplies to the troops. Finally we were off to the US Memorial at Omaha Beach. I was there 10 years ago with my daddy, and it was one of only 2 times I saw him cry before I graduated high school. I didn’t understand why then, but being back 10 years later, I got it. As I walked around the thousands of beautiful white crosses, I tried to imagine knowing some of the men and just couldn’t even go there in my mind. I saw an older man weeping over one of the crosses and I almost cried myself. It was incredibly sad but beautiful place at the same time, and again, I had such pride for those courageous men who fought for the freedom of so many on that day and throughout the war. We had one more stop for the day and that was Pont du Hoc. The indentions in the ground from the bombs are still as big as I remember them when I was 10 and the cliffs are still just as huge. I still don’t understand how any man could climb up them, but they did it and I was awestruck. The one guy on our trip said that today was his favorite day of the trip. I agreed it was within my top 5, and I’m so thankful for the chance to have gotten to go.
Saturday (14th): We got up and headed to the Bayeux tapestry. I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. My only recollection of it is a child was wondering why there was a building dedicated to keeping a big, old rug safe. Wellll that changed. I thought it was so cool. We were learning about the Battle of Hastings in class and William the Conqueror so I was loving it. We stopped by the cathedral there since we had some time to kill, and then we headed to Mont St. Michel, a place I have had on my bucket list since I saw a picture of it on Pinterest in high school. Unfortunately the hotel was sub-par, and the first night there, we could hear the man snoring in the other room so clearly, but I don’t think I have laughed so hard the whole trip. I stayed up way too late, pillowing talking with my roommates, and I just was again so thankful for the chance to do what I’m doing.
Sunday (15th): We got to tour Mont St. Michel! For anyone who doesn’t know, it is incredibly beautiful abbey on an island that only 42 people currently live on. There used to be parking lots around the base of the island, but when the tide came in, it washed all the cars away (you think they would have thought that one through…), so now there is a bus that will take you part of the way there, so that was our mode of transportation for the morning. We had a tour of the abbey with a funny, young tour guide. She poked fun at us for being Americans and some of our group was offended, but I was just so excited that I understood what she was saying and could joke back. She started off the tour with an explanation of how the people who used to live at the abbey slept outside on the terrace on the stones. It was an incredibly windy and chilly day so naturally when she asked what we thought was missing, I said “heat”. She actually laughed out loud and asked if I was joking… She was wearing capri cargo pants and tevas. The rest of us were bundled up in scarves and North Face jackets and I am one of the only ones from the South so it wasn’t just me “not being used to the weather”. Anyways, we got through the tour and then had the afternoon free so my friend Julia and I found a place with soup and paninis and ate lunch there. There unfortunately isn’t much else to do on the island besides eat and see the abbey, and of course take lots of pictures, so we wandered and then walked back to our hotel. We ate dinner at our hotel that night and I had been saying for a while how much I was strangely craving strawberry shortcake for dessert. Well guess what, I ordered what I thought was just fresh strawberries, and it came out as close to a strawberry shortcake as the French can do! I was so happy.
Monday (16th): We woke up and headed to Chartres to see the famous Notre Dame de Chartres and I learned the most incredible thing about it. We started in the crypt with another cute little old French lady tour guide, and I learned that what we were standing in was the first cathedral built in the Roman style, but as reconstructions were made on the church, it got bigger and bigger and less and less Roman. Now it is a huge Gothic style cathedral and let me tell you somethin’- our guide loves her job. We were supposed to have an hour and a half tour and she talked to us about the cathedral all the way up until her next tour 2 and a half hours later. I can’t remember the last time I was so cold somewhere. (Clearly this wasn’t a good weather week for us). She took us outside at one point and I kid you not, there was a monsoon taking place for the few minutes we were out there. I began to shake so badly that my sweet friends huddled around me and I just had to laugh because we were such a pitiful sight. Once we re-emerged from the inside of the cathedral, it was bright and sunny and warm and we spent some time just walking around the town a little bit. We had dinner at a cool restaurant right by the city square and within view of the cathedral. They were having a light show on the cathedral and I have never seen anything like it! We went over there and stayed and watched it… TWICE. It looked like Cirque de Soleil on the cathedral, and it had the most beautiful musical score with it. We were just in awe and loving every minute of it. Sadly the next morning we had to pack up and head back to Dijon, but I think my family was happy to have me home. I know Gaston was :)
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